Actually, frequent sightings of Rhinopias were recently reported on a main land location, south west of Manado bay. There were muliple sights of several specimens, up to 4 until late 2012. Some Lembeh diver groups even organized trips to see them (and that's quite a drive from Lembeh). From what I've been told (from a Murex senior guide), they disappeared after some windy and choppy days in january.

We tried to go back on the divespot of their last sightings early april, but the visibility was very limited, due to rains and a river that floods directly into this small bay. Therefore we came back with empty mem cards...

The rumours I heard on my last visit to Lembeh were that the Rhinopias had been collected for the aquarium trade, which is very sad. In Ambon in December I saw five different individuals and the guides told me there were up to twenty throughout the bay. Ambon is the place to go at the moment.

Roughly mid-september to mid-april. September to november are said to be better because of colder water and Rhinopias coming up while they tend to hide deeper as the water warms up from february on. But I've seen many Rhinopias in Ambon in feb, one of them less than 6m deep.

News flash from Lembeh: I'm happy to report that today one of the Critters@Lembeh dive guides found a paddle-flap rhinopias! It's been a long time since we've seen one so we're really excited about it. Hopefully one of our guests will have a decent shot and allow us to put it online. Great news!